Sunday, 29 November 2015

How Have Testing Tools Helped to Perform Effective Testing?

Software testing has always been
a very important part of the whole software development process. It helps in
detecting the flaws that are responsible for the dissatisfaction of the
customers which in turn helps in the development of better products which
automatically gets better due to the rectification of errors which would
possibly diminish the outcome of the software.

With the advancement of the
software testing procedure, automation of various testing procedure, automation
have been introduced where the various tests are being performed by the automated
tools which helps in fast testing and at the same time increases the coverage
area. The main advantage of automated testing is the fact that it is effective
yet costs a lot test than manual procedures. The process is completed a lot
faster and the same test can be run parallel on multiple machines and at the
same time. You will also get the same accuracy every time you test software.
Prolonged tests are actually done with better proficiency by tools than on a
manual way. This is why the tests which have high output value but require
little effort to be completed are automated first.

1.Reduction of Repetitive Work: Certain
tests, like regression tests, are very boring to perform as they are repetitive
in nature. When manually done, these repetitive tests become prone to mistakes
as it is tedious in nature and tend to bore people off. Insertion of the test
data again and again as well as checking the codes multiple times in order to
create a proper database for the storage for future referencing. However tools
are capable of performing these repetitive tasks with perfect ease and with the
same amount accuracy every time and saves up on time too.

2.Greater Consistency and Repeatability:A
tool is capable of performing the same task again and again with the same
amount of preciseness. However, when a human performs the same test manually,
their technique gets altered although they may not realize it. Hence the
testing tool helps in increasing the effectiveness of testing.

3.Objective Assessment: Assessment of the
cyclomatic complexity or nesting levels of a component (usually done with the
help of a static analysis tool), coverage (coverage measurement tool), system
behavior (by the help of monitoring tools) and incident statistics (done with
the test management tool) are some of the examples of objective assessment
which are done by the help of the automation tools. This helps to remove any
biasness which may occur when the same objective assessment test is done
manually by any human being.

4.Ease of Access to Information about Tests or Testing:Information is well retained by human when they are depicted in the form of a
picture. This is why information which is presented in the form of charts and
graphs are easier to remember and analyze than mere numbers. Automatic tools
help to convert the end results of the software testing procedures into charts
and bars which can then be analyzed with ease by an individual. Information
like the development of the procedure, advancement of the same, occurrence of
various incidents repeatedly, is directly converted into images for better
processing.

These are just
some of the ways in which have helped in the process of performing effective
testing of the software. However, although a huge progress has been made in the
fields of the automation of the test procedure, the main part of the whole
process, i.e. the planning of the test still have to be done manually and hence
manual processes can’t be completely overlooked.